Winter, Snow, Exercise, Food

Nothing beats a bank holiday weekend, especially in January. I think the UK is missing a trick by not bringing one in. As a fellow Brit friend said last night, 'They do winter so much better in the US.' And it's true.

There's Thanksgiving, then there's Christmas, then New Year, then Martin Luther King Day (long weekend), then the Superbowl, and all the while, the days are getting gradually longer and brighter every day. The sun is still shining at 5.15pm and inside my cranked apartment, it's practically tropical.

This week saw the return of the Polar Vortex part deux. Bloody hell it's been cold. On Tuesday, both my gyms cancelled all their classes, but fortunately I had a week's pass from a fancy-dan gym where I'd had a facial. (I'm not going all New York, the Boy treated me for Christmas). It was a 15-minute walk away, which normally would be absolutely fine, but with boshing horizontal snow in the slicing cold, it was a tough trudge. It definitely felt colder than Polar Vortex part une. The sun reflecting off the snow was so incredibly bright that it took me a good 5 minutes to adjust once I was back in our building. Imagine that happening in London.

All I've done this week is eat and exercise. This is fast becoming a health and fitness blog, but without the healthy eating and without any training knowledge, so DO NOT do what I do. In fact, do the opposite...

Here's the exercise lowdown:
- I tried kettlebell kickboxing at our martial arts school this week. I can see why people get addicted, as you properly have to work your whole body. I felt it in my shoulders the following day. Always good to cross-train, kids, as you get to work different parts of your body. The thing I don't understand is why the kettlebell kickboxing doesn't work you as hard as the martial arts classes. It's the same school so it should be the same intensity, no?
- I went to a 30-minute core class on Tuesday. Burning abs! Burnings abs! There was this thing called a pilates ring, which you just squeeze with different parts of your body whilst you're working your core. Er, hello? Do they not know that ab work is already hard enough.
- I've re-embraced running recently and was surprised that I'd been finding it so hard considering how much exercise I've been doing. I hadn't factored in how rubbish I've been at converting miles to kilometers. I've basically been running at 1.5km an hour faster than I did at home - even faster than when I was training for the half marathon.
- Today, I pushed myself to the max at tabata and used 10lb weights. Not through choice, but because those were the only ones left. By the end of the session, I was close to vomiting and I couldn't get my body to stop shaking. It took a good 25 minutes of stretching for my body to calm down. Ufff, I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Foodwise:
- Umami burger. Mmmmmmmmmmm umami. You gotta love truffle-ly cheese atop chips. Mmmmmm umami.
- Shakshuka. Don't feed this tomato-with-poached-egg-North-African dish to a friend who doesn't eat eggs. You'll end up having to feed her fish fingers. This is you, Gym Buddy A.
- Tomorrow we're off to Tamarind for a posh curry with Brit friends who had curry at their wedding. They are true curry connoisseurs.

Finally, I have an amazing manicure courtesy of Gym Buddy 1. My fingers made me smile momentarily as I was doing my third set of press-ups tonight. But only momentarily. Oh, and y'all should get a mister bottle.